May 21 at Delft

A full, fun day. After breakfast at our B&B we walked over to the Old City and while waiting for the William of Orange Museum to open we wandered into the Old Church. It happened that they were practicing for a choral concert of Mozart's Requiem for this evening. We estimated there were 800 in the chorus. Between the volume of the voices and the acoustics of the cathedral and the musical power of Mozart, the effect just about knocked us over.

We moved on to the Prinsenhof, which was the seat of William of Orange , the Founding Father of the Netherlands. He was a prince and advisor to the emperor Charles V of Spain, but broke with him in the religious wars of the last part of the 16th century. He was assassinated at the Prinsenhof , and there are even bullet holes in the wall at the site of the murder. (Pic)

Also at the prinsenhof was a special exhibit. Vermeer's famous painting of a Little Street, (pic)which usually is at the rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, is on loan here in delft where it was painted over 300 years ago.

After lunch we went to the Vermeer Center , which is a museum with no original Vermeer paintings but images of all 39 known Vermeer works from around the world with great commentary background and analysis. We came away not only knowing more  about Johannes Vermeer, but with a special appreciation and love for his work.

We then saw the New Church, where all the monarchs of the Netherlands are buried, with a special monument to William of Orange.(pic)

But wait there's more. After a little down time we rode the bike a short distance to the next town to an evening Mass. The big churches in delft have been Protestant since the time of William of Orange. It was a very modern Catholic service with music and emphasis on the children which reminded us of the Shrine of St. Joseph, where we were active in New Jersey long ago.

We rode the bike directly into the main square of delft , had a good dinner there and finally rode back to our B&B in the fading late twilight.